This will be the 25th straight year that Corona will air the spot, which depicts a tropical night with one palm tree lighting up with Christmas lights, the song Oh Tannenbaum being whistled and viewers being wished Feliz Navidad.

The spot has become as iconic as other Christmas spots, such as the appearances of the Clydesdale horses in Budweiser ads.

The Corona spot serves as its own equity marker.

Equity markers are powerful things Think Cinderella’s castle for Disney. But what makes the Corona Oh Tannepalm spot work so well is that the ad itself is the equity marker.

How is that? Because no beer in the US marketplace does a better job of understanding its brand and how it is different than the competition than Corona. The Oh Tannepalm spot perfectly crystalizes that.

We have worked with many beers over the years and have done our fair share of beer market studies. The beer producers often end up mimicking each other in an attempt to steal market share, like those in many other markets.

This is especially true of the larger American lagers, which always seem to be in a race to copy the market leader, Budweiser.

But that approach has come back to bite those lagers in the arse. Beer drinkers have generally become more sophisticated and younger, leading to the rise of craft beers.

The problem with the individual craft beer brands, though, is that the typical microbrew drinker is a fickle beast. He (or she) often looks for what’s new, rather than being loyal to one specific brand.

That’s what makes Corona so special. It has a loyal fan base, remaining the most popular imported beer because it has clearly established who it is for and not for.

Corona is for those who just like to kick back like they are on a beach, even if they are holed up somewhere where it’s not exactly balmy. No one in the category can claim that space because Corona already owns it.

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Feliz Navidad to Corona was last modified: July 17th, 2018 by Tom Dougherty